The Three Lions host Peru this Friday before jetting off to Miami for warm-up games against Ecuador on June 7 and Honduras three days later.

Hodgson is likely to rotate heavily throughout all three games, but a report from The Mirror has claimed that the pair will be given ample opportunity to strike up a partnership ahead of the tournament in Brazil next month.

England begin their group campaign against Italy on June 14, and Hodgson wants to see how his forwards can co-exist in the friendly games against the three different South American opponents.

"We've seen an awful lot of the Sturridge-Suarez partnership at Liverpool but not a lot of Rooney-Sturridge partnership because they haven't had a lot of time to play together.

"Now's our chance. From the time we get to St George's Park we start to move away from bigger focus on fitness and getting people in the right shape to tactical preparation.

"That’s when the partnerships will start to develop. It won’t just be Rooney-Sturridge, we will be working on (Danny) Welbeck and (Rickie) Lambert as well."

Much of the goalscoring burden will rest on the shoulders of the pair in South America, and despite Hodgson's insistence that Welbeck and Lambert will be given their own chances to stake a claim, the report alleges that Rooney and Sturridge will be the undisputed first choice pairing in Brazil.

Sturridge's goal haul last season took him to second in the end-of-season scoring charts to Liverpool teammate Luis Suarez, who hit 31, while Rooney's 17-goal tally was the same as Manchester City's Sergio Aguero.

Paul Gorst

A sports reporter for the Daily Mirror, Paul divides his time with Mirror Online alongside Sports Mole and TOPPS Kick. Paul has been a football writer for around five years and has had his work featured by the likes of Mail Online, LFC.tv, the Liverpool Echo and Mercury Press agency amongst others.